Model Creek Shoot: Kennesaw, Georgia

Before the sun ever woke up on Saturday morning, our shoot began.  Two models decided to take a chance on us and come, one even driving from Athens, and I wasn’t about to waste their time.

I’d already left defeated in a battle vs. lighting on Wednesday night, and was driven not to lose again. Instead of scheduling a sunset shoot, I decided that it may be more helpful to have natural light on my side (in addition to my equipment). However, if it was raining, overcast, etc., I still needed to produce great, quality, well-composed, well-lit pictures. Period.

With that expectation clearly preceding this session, magic didn’t happen. Instead, well thought out picture making did.

And sometimes didn’t.  The picture above, I’ll let you figure out why I should have removed the light behind Elizabeth. And this picture, follows the Rule-of-Thirds, has good lighting, and one problem that I want to call your attention to.

Maybe you noticed it, and thought this was intentional, cool, or didn’t care. Whether you liked the picture or not, all the lines in it  point to something other than our model, Elizabeth – the creek.

Because of my composition, this photo’s focal point is no longer the model, it’s the creek. And however scenic, beautiful, and peaceful it is, it’s not what I really want you to pay attention to.  What I want is for my composition to compliment my main subject, Elizabeth and all the things around her to as well.  (The reason I had to tell you who my main subject was is evidence that I didn’t do a good job of demonstrating that in this picture).

Mark was the one who had originally called me out on this not-so-noticeable faux pas of mine when he helped during the session with Earl and Mihia, and ever since, I’ve been much more considerate of lines and focal points of my photograph’s composition. Well, most of the time.

As a result, in many of my photographs the main subject and what I want you to be looking at is located in the center.  The reason that’s not boring is because I didn’t shoot the models at eye-level and the fact that it’s more enjoyable to look at because your eyes know what they should be looking at.

Now, hopefully, I didn’t need to tell you what to look at in those pictures because the main subject was evident. Here’s how I like to think of a shot.

I like to think of lots of arrows, all pointing to something, and if they’re not pointing to the main subject I want, I change something. My composition. My position. My angle. How the model is posed. I think about the emotion I want to evoke, and the look I want the model to have, and I try to release that perspective by giving them a piece of my vision behorehand.

See what I mean? Before I took this picture, I wanted you to be captivated by her eyes more than anything else and asked Mallory to angle her body in such a way that made you know that without even realizing it.

After model swapping with Debra (again, so fabulous of her to come and be a proactive photographer!), we reconjoined to take some pictures of Elizabeth and Mallory together.

Here’s a short video to sum up how we worked together (with Mike’s help and videography skills) to make n0t-so-magical pictures and think through our pictures before you or our laptops got to see them.

And here’s what was produced.

Mitchell + Rachel : Engagement Session

In the midst of a technology loving generation, it’s easy to get you and your business out there. Whether it’s what you did last Saturday night, how you’re feeling or what you’re doing at any given moment, people, their thoughts, their needs, etc. are more accessable than ever. So now that people and many couples meet on the interweb, why not use the same medium to meet future clients? That’s just where our story begins.

Actually, where Rachel and Mitchell’s began just a few months ago when they found one another online. And just last week, that’s where they met me.  Sure, Craigslist may not seem like the most Orthodox way of meeting couples, but for my purposes, and many others, it works. I’d put up a post for free photography services till November 1st with the constant reminder of why I got myself involved in this internship to begin with – to put out. Well, photos, that is.  To get better at things that I’m not the best at, to push myself more than my natural body would like (more times than not), to get more comfortable working with clients, and to figure out lighting if it’s the last thing I’ll do (ha! It may very well be the death of me!).

I arrived much earlier at our evening’s setting, the Chattahoochee River, than my cohorts and the lovely couple. For the shoot, my friend, companion, and husband, Mike came (and helped more than anyone I could ever pay to) and my co-intern, Kristen who I enjoyed getting to work and collaborate with one-on-one.

Now while I’d scouted spots beforehand, I hadn’t really accounted for the sun setting so fast. I know that may sound funny since I assume it falls down the horizon at the same pace every evening, but time flew and the area we’d chosen was particularly sparce of the flickers that remained elsewhere in the park.

Below, is my terrible battle with setting up a shot for far too long with much too little time. Challenged by Mark, and my own pride, I wanted to share not only what I’m most proud of, but what I’m most scared of showing you – my mess-ups, my mistakes. The ugly stuff that I could easily delete without you ever seeing or knowing it happened. Sure, it’s not an epic fail, but it was a learning experience.

(Ha! Please laugh at my giant shadow!).

This fill light remained where Mike is placing it (above) for the entirety of this part of our shoot. At times, Kristen and I took turns lifting it for experimentation’s sake, but overall, it wasn’t nearly as tampered with.

The other light was placed as far to the left as possible. Without a shade, it was too bright for the setting and overexposed the left side of much of this picture. An umbrella was then placed on it, and helped some.

Here’s reason #10310831038 why I love Mike. It’s moments like this that I particularly cherish his character, patience, and am reminded that he’ll do almost anything if I’m humble and ask for help (and even when I don’t, will help). He remained on the edge holding this light for us.

With Mike there, however, it made the Rule-of-Thirds hard not to break and a challenge to not get him in the shot. He had the great idea of trying to bounce the light off the water which helped me get this shot and the reflection in the creek that Kristen and I desperately wanted.

It really did help, but I still think we needed a third light to add more light since mother nature’s timeline was not on our side. In another way, I love how the light frames them apart from the setting as if it was irrelevant in the first place.

We even tried to put the left side light behind them to create a beautiful, glowing halo and even that didn’t really cut it. Somehow lens flares don’t seem right in the middle of the forest.

In the end, Lighting 1 Ashley 0.

But that’s ok. It really is. Rachel and Mitchell were great to learn with, and enjoyed oodling over one another in the midst of some paparazzi. And I’m happy I learned, or more openly, even tried. It’s easy to stay safe, not go into creeks, only shoot on Saturday’s, during the daytime, on a clear day, with your friends….but this really wasn’t that at all, was it?

The last stop of the night was my favorite. It’s where I’d like to return, to open a new book, and finish it in the same afternoon. The mist that loomed above it was peaceful and haunting, and the silence of it all, comforting. Geese filled the waters and called them home, grazing the slow tides for food and finding it.

In a way, it didn’t seem real. And I forgot that it was 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night. That I had work in the morning, a house to clean, or food to eat(…ya right, I’m always hungry. ;).

Or that we had only 10 minutes before it was 8:30, and the park closed, woops!

So we ended the evening hopeful for the opportunity to work together again, to beat lighting in our next battle with it, and a goodnight kiss.

Mihia + Earl : The Ralph Abernathy Tunnel

Long before this shoot came to pass, I knew I was looking for something different. I’d been itching to find a location in the same way that Mark finds a picture before capturing it; I wanted to locate the pictures before I was at the location.

Really, it started out wanting a tunnel along the Atlanta Beltline. Then it turned into a 2-day hunt for this one tunnel. I’d seen pictures online, sent some emails to the photographers who’d taken them, and after a call to Jenny at Our Green Atlanta and some help from Mike and Google Streetview, I had a better idea of where we needed to go and could meet up.

I have to admit, from the street, it wasn’t the most impressive location. But once we steeply climbed down a drainage ditch, we were there. And guess what else was? 1,000,000,000,000 mosquitos (or more, it was hard to count). Panic set in, and the fear that the shoot I’d frantically, excitedly scoped out would fail due to the ridiculous infestation – sucked. Thankfully, my assistant, Mike (ha!) cross-crountried to Kroger and back to save the day, and more important, the shoot!

We began at 6:30, but more realistically, 7 p.m. right before sunset and took pictures outside the tunnel to capture some kudzu-filled tunnel shots. I loved how the tunnel archways framed Mihia and Earl, and this wonderful couple’s fierce appeal in every shot.

The inspiration for this came from LeahAndMark.com’s recent wedding pic, although not the beautiful Boston skyline, I really love how Mihia framed Earl in this picture. Even the new editing tools I learned at this week’s Photo Editing Class (which was so helpful, and I’m so glad I got to go to!) with LeahAndMark.com, really enhanced this photo’s natural appeal to look at Earl.

Like I said, I had Mark on this shoot, and with his help and instruction, I can tell how much having him one-on-one has been the most helpful part of this internship, and something I’ll continue to take full-advantage of the remaining 2 months. It really allowed me to ask, and watch how he does what he does, everyday – take amazing pictures.

But no worries, he really pushed me to set up this shoot and lead it. While I was initially extremely intimidated and humbled, it’s made me better, moved me leaps and bounds ahead of where I was a month ago, and caused me to think through what I’m doing, which afterall, isn’t that the goal of all of this?

This was the last shot of the night, right after Mike took down the flash behind them. Mmmm, a tasty, dramatic picture. Such a beautiful love to capture; love you two.

Like I already mentioned, Mark really pushed me in a lot of ways during this shoot, and I’m glad he did. He pushed me closer, pushed me to move quicker, to think quicker, to ask Mike for help quicker, etc. Take advantage of him if you can now, and if you hope to intern with him in two months, then start busting your butt now. If you hate your day job (while being excellent at it), enough to get uncomfortable, lose some sleep, miss some friends, etc., and you love and more important, need, a creative outlet, then in the words of Mark. “Go.”

McKenzie's Beach Trip

Last weekend, my husband and I got to go back to our beautiful hometown, Clearwater, Florida. We had a fabulous time visiting family and friends, and spent lots, lots, and lots of time with my younger sister, McKenzie.

She’s quite the character, and I wanted to capture her and her wonderful personality (not to mention, get some experience photographing children) while I was down there.

Our first stop was heading to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There we saw many marine animals that they help to rehabilitate and release back into the wild. It’s an amazing place, and the nostalgia of being there was surreal and sweet when I remembered going there at the same age as Kenzie. They even have a celebrity there, Winter, a dolphin that lost its tale fin and has learned to swim with a prosthetic replacement. She’s even going to be in a movie =scheduled to debut in 2011!

Unless you’re already from here, you must admit, you’re kinda jealous.  It’s soooo beautiful and there’s nothing like walking barefoot in the sand!

Now, the next series of pictures is a testimony to why I think photographing weddings is much easier than photographing children.  Since McKenzie decided that she didn’t really feel like taking these pictures, it made this shoot much more difficult.  Mike, my husband, tried really, really hard to help me still get some really cute shots of her and I really appreciated all he did just to make her smile.

Here’s the initial talk…

…. which didn’t work. And then the piggy-back ride to make her laugh and smile. 🙂

(Followed by a brief intermission of me waiting painfully for Mike to get me tweezers from the car, and then pathetically removing a sand spur I got stuck in my foot. I know this sounds pitiful, but it really, really hurt!)

To end our exhausting day and experience, we headed to the Gulf (thankfully, oil free) and played some more (that is, before the “I-want-to-go-to-the-slide-tantrum” took place).  Next time, we’re definitely getting a nap in before our shoot! 😉

Tom + Alexis

Last weekend, my husband, Mike, my brother-in-law, Tom, and his girlfriend, Alexis and I all headed to Lavonia, GA to celebrate Grandma Bennett’s birthday. During our trip, we were able to sneak away to “downtown” Lavonia and take some pictures of one of our favorite couples.

My original inspiration for this picture was Noah and Ally from The Notebook, when they laid down in the middle of the road on their first date (I love this movie), and then I had them try out some other poses too.

Then, we discovered a back alley to take some more pictures. Being that they’re family, I felt comfortable posing them, and am glad I did. Afterall, what’s family for?

I had fun trying out some different editing styles too. I haven’t landed on the exact “look” that I want my photography to have, and am hoping to have one solidified by the end of this internship. Let me know what you think; I really do appreciate (constructive) feedback. (See the picture at the top of this post for the other style I tried out).